DETAILS have emerged of a £7m offer to lease the marina at Pwllheli which was turned down by Gwynedd Council.

The Herald has learnt that the Anglesey Boat Company Limited wrote to Gwynedd Council in January 2008 declaring their willingness to take a “leasehold interest” in the marina.

In the letter, Dafydd G Jones from the Anglesey Boat Company states: “We are currently involved in very substantial marine related developments in Beaumaris, Holyhead, Fishguard and Pembroke Dock – harbours which have the support from among others of our AM Ieuan Wyn Jones as they can see the benefits of using private funding as a way and means of improving coastal towns in Wales.

“We believe that the same formula could be applied at Pwllheli whereby we would be willing to make an opening offer of £7m for a leasehold interest in the marina, and would agree to fund and carry out maintenance and improvements in the future.

“This money could then be reinvested by Gwynedd Council in helping to ease the burden of its financial constraints in the coming years.”

The company again extended the offer to the council in a letter dated January this year.

However, Gwynedd Council insisted that there were no plans to transfer the Hafan Marina into private hands.

“The opening offer was £7 m which sounds like it was made to get the council interested.

“The end offer could have been much more, who knows?

“Everyone is in agreement that the marina should be privatised, it doesn’t make sense to run it internally.

“Many other local authorities are opting to run their marinas privately and it would bring a lot of money in for Gwynedd Council.”

Pwllheli Chamber of Trade member David Hughes added: “I think marinas should be run by professionals.

“You wouldn’t expect Marks and Spencers to be run by the council.

“It’s a no brainer from my point of view.”

A Gwynedd Council spokesman said: “The internalisation of the management of Hafan Pwllheli is nearing the end of the first year and the council will be reviewing the performance of the marina during the early part of the next financial year. As agreed by the council board in 2007, the future management of the facility will also be reviewed in the near future.

“Given that the development of the Sailing Academy is still at the concept stage, it is premature for the council to explore in detail the future management of Hafan Pwllheli and the management of the harbour as a whole.

“Whilst it would not be appropriate for the council to comment on possible approaches from commercial enterprises, we can confirm that there are no plans at present to transfer responsibility for the running of this very important and valuable public asset to an external commercial operator.”